Jesters and Kings
by The Pigeon One
Summary: AU. Prince Richard and Lady Barbara have grown up together, and have always been fond of each other. But when Barbara's father will not let her go to court, she fears that her friendship with Richard may forever be changed.
1. Part the First

This came about largely because I watch too much Tudors and I couldn't get it out of my head. So if this does well I may write more of it and if it doesn't, I might anyway.

So all these places are fairly made up. Any resemblance to places that really exist is purely coincidence.

Jesters and Kings

Part the First

James Gordan, Duke of Acryl, was a sensible man. He was loyal to the King, but he knew well how corrupt court could be. He had spent a large portion of his life attending to King Bruce, something that he would never complain about. But he did not trust his daughter, Barbara, to the evils of the court.

Barbara, for her part, felt slighted. It wasn't that she particularly _wanted_ to be at court, but she had friends there. She was particularly fond of the king's eldest son, Richard, and she enjoyed spending time with him. The fact that her father would not let her go to court meant that she would see less of Richard than she already did, and she was more than a little upset by it.

Richard Grayson, though the king's son and raised by the king, was not fathered by the king. Richard's real parents, Sir John and Lady Mary, were killed when Richard was quite young, and King Bruce, moved with compassion for the child, had adopted him as his own.

Though it was common knowledge at court that Prince Richard was adopted and not sired by the king no one knew exactly how it was that the king had come to adopt the boy. Barbara had been the first person that Richard had intimated the story to, and was, to this day, the only one he had told willingly.

Barbara trusted him and cared for him above any man in her life, save her father. She missed their summers together when the court was on progress and he would come stay at her father's manor, the days spent chasing each other around the apple orchards and racing each other on her father's most wild horses.

She was long past the age that a girl was expected to come out, much less be at court, though she had thought nothing of it until Richard had sent her a letter dictating that he could not come visit her as he once had because he had duties at court and that he no longer had time to come spend his summers with her as he used to. Barbara had then gone to her father and asked his permission to go to court with him when the next opportunity presented itself.

He had looked at her for a moment before laughing. "Barbara," he told her, "I would not have you at court for all the riches in Gotham. That place is like a pack of wild dogs, and I will not subjugate my daughter to such evils. Go play with your dolls, child, and do not entertain any more thoughts of attending court."

Barbara stomped off, angry that her father thought her such a child. She had friends at court, friends that were much younger than she, at court, ladies of much less rank who were much more easy prey than Barbara would be. Her father insulted her by telling her to be with her dolls, by insinuating that she was but a little girl. Richard did well, and he was the bloody prince!

In the days following, Barbara attempted to change her father's mind, but it was to no avail. He only became angry every time she mentioned it. In time, she ceased in speaking to him about it, though it was constantly in her thoughts. She felt a bit like a petulant child, and perhaps she was, a tiny bit, acting like one, but she didn't care. She was of a noble family, and a noble family that the king smiled upon. Her father complained that the court was like a pack of wild dogs, but she needed to be married some time, and how was she to do such a thing if she were not permitted at court?

It all irritated Barbara so much that she did not speak to her father for a whole week, and tried to see him as little as possible, ignoring him when he came to check on her progress on her needlework or her reading. He found her disdain of him rather amusing and remarked that she was much like her mother, no matter how much he hated to admit it. She simply looked away and threw her flaming red hair over her shoulder, as if to illustrate that she was more like him that he thought. She was stubborn, something James knew Barbara had _not_ gotten from her mother.

Almost halfway across the country, Prince Richard sat to supper with his father, silently staring down at his plate. King Bruce was not the easiest person to have a father, and the prince was feeling the sting of his father's stony silence.

"If I may, Your Majesty, do you think you could spare me for a fortnight to visit Lady Barbara and her father at the Duke's manor?" Richard spoke, glancing up to see the king's near vacant expression.

"No, Richard, I cannot spare you an entire fortnight." the king replied. "I need you here. If you wish to visit Lady Barbara, you may go for three days and no more. I understand that her father has forbidden her from coming to court and that you crave her company, but you cannot be gone so long."

Richard sighed as he took a bite of whatever was on his plate. Swallowing, he spoke. "Then with your leave, I shall write to the lady and tell her that I shall come to visit her at her earliest convenience. This is acceptable?"

The king nodded and Richard went back to eating, already planning his letter to Lady Barbara in his head. How excited she would be to see him! And perhaps he could even convince His Grace to allow his daughter at court!

Though three days was a short visit indeed, Richard already found himself dearly looking forward to it.

"Oh, and Richard," added the king as Richard found himself planning just how he would greet his lady. "when you return there is a great matter I would like to discuss with you. I think it is high time you were married."


	2. Part the Second

So those of you that are familiar with events in the comics will be familiar with parts of this story line, I think. I'm trying to make this stick to cannon as much as I possibly can, only in a Tudors like setting. So, yeah, keep that in mind.

Jesters and Kings  
>Part the Second<p>

Barbara was in her sitting room when she heard the loud open and closing of the heavy front door, accompanied by the rumble of male voices. She smiled to herself; Richard was here. She waited for him, continuing sewing the little doll she was making for Charlotte, a little girl who lived on one of the farms down the road. The little girl's mother had recently passed away and Barbara felt an odd sort of kinship with the girl.

There was a loud banging noise, which Barbara assumed was the unloading of Richard's trunks, and the sound of footsteps on the stairs. Barbara smiled to herself, but didn't put down the doll's head, and continued her steady work.

There was a knock on the door and one of her ladies' maids entered. "His Highness Prince Richard, my lady," she said, and stepped aside to allow the prince access to the room, and turning to leave once he was gone.

"Your Highness," Barbara greeted him, not bothering to get up. "You find me working on a doll for a young farm girl that lives down the road. I am afraid I cannot take a break from my work to wait on you."

Prince Richard smiled deviously and chuckled. "I am sorry to disturb such charitable work, Lady Barbara, but I am afraid that I demand your attention. All of it."

Barbara looked up from her work, her eyebrow cocked, and set down her needle, standing and curtsying low. "Is Your Highness satisfied?"

The prince shook his head. "No, my lady, I am not. I shall not be satisfied until you come here and give your oldest and dearest friend a hug."

Barbara, smiling, ran at Richard, and wrapped him in such a hug that nearly knocked them both over.

"I've missed you," said she upon releasing him, and he patted the top of her head where her hood wasn't resting.

"I've missed you, too. Court is so busy and buzzing and I never have any time for myself."

Barbara sat, and motioned for the price to do the same. "I'm sorry to hear that," she replied, picking her needlework back up. "I had hoped that you would be able to visit more frequently, but if court is so busy as you say, then I suppose it is not possible,"

Richard inclined his head towards his friend and sighed. "I fear that that is not the worst of it, either. My father has told me that he wishes me to marry soon. He has begun looking for a princess for me to wed."

Barbara was by no means shocked by this. In reality, she had wondered when the king was going to force Richard to marry. He was almost one and twenty, beyond what was considered normal marriageable age. "I cannot say I am anything but surprised, Richard," she then told him. "Your father is a practical man, and he knows you must marry. That he is looking to unite his kingdom with another is no surprise."

Richard seemed to visibly slump and ran his hand through his hair, a sheer sign of just how he was feeling. "But what if I don't want to marry a foreign princess? What if I would rather marry someone I know and am familiar with?" he asked, sounding desperate.

Barbara smiled at him kindly and reached out to touch his arm I comfort. "I know it must be a thing that it hard to accept, Richard, but you are a prince, the crowned prince at that, and you must marry where your father bids you. Just as I must marry where my father bids me, when the time comes. See, you are just like a woman; the instrument of your father, as all women are."

Richard looked at her crossly with such an expression that Barbara couldn't help but laugh. "Oh, don't be offended. This is the nature of all princes."

"It is the nature of all princes to be like women?" Richard replied, his voice bordering on uncivil.

"Oh, Richard, you are too sensitive. You know what I mean. If your father tells you must marry a specific woman, you must do it."

Richard sighed again and took Barbara's hand and put his lips to it. "I know," he said, giving her back her hand. "But I don't want to marry a stranger. I don't understand why Father cannot marry some foreign princess and leave me to wed whom I choose."

"You know as well as I that that is not the way it works. Besides, how do you not know that your father won't have you marry someone like Princess Donna? You are quite close to her, are you not? Were you not raised together?"

Richard almost instantly seemed opposed to the idea. "Donna? Good Lord, no! She is like a sister to me! I could never marry her!"

Unable to control herself, Barbara giggled. "Well, my darling, I hate to have to be the one to tell you this, but if you have half so much affection as that in your marriage to anyone else, I shall be surprised. Though it is possible that your father may indeed choose for you to marry Princess Donna, I doubt it will be so, and anyone else he could pick you are unlikely to have the pleasure of knowing. I fear that you are doomed to an unhappy marriage."

Though Barbara was teasing, Richard took what she said to heart. In all honesty, what she said was true. It was unlikely in the extreme that he would know his wife, much less love her.

"What if I wanted to marry you?" he asked halfheartedly.

"Richard, don't be ridiculous. I may be the daughter of a duke, and one that your father loves dearly at that, but I am not a princess. It would never even be considered."

Richard looked up at her with a devious smile. "But you do not object marrying me, Barbara. I think perhaps you have fallen victim to my charms."

Barbara huffed, indignant. "Yes, of course I have." She paused, brushing a stray hair back into her hood. "Of course I would not object to marrying you, you lout. For one thing, marrying you would be much better than marrying that son of that minor noble that I believe my father may want for me. Secondly, I do love you dearly. Though you are like a brother to me, I would rather wed you than perhaps any other my father could find for me. But don't flatter yourself. I have long been free of the want of your charms."

Richard laughed and sat back in his chair. "Yes, I daresay that's true. You've know me far too long to be subject to all my ensnaring ways."

Barbara smiled and returned to her sewing. "So what have you been about these days, Richard? You rarely ever write me anymore."

"I'm busy," replied he. "My father has me mostly running the kingdom. He fears assassins or the plague or what have you will force him into an untimely death and that I will be forced to take the throne much sooner than he wants."

"That's not entirely unreasonable, dear. He has many enemies that would love to see him dead."

Richard looked at his friend with a glare that could melt stone – a glare that Barbara was entirely used to, one that had no effect on her. "Oh, don't give me that look. You know I am very rarely anything but honest with you. You know that it is a possibility."

Richard, glare still in place, shrugged. "That doesn't make it any less infuriating, darling. Maybe I don't want your brutally honest truths."

"Pity," she replied. "I think I shall have to learn to be less liberal when I speak to Your Highness, then. I suppose you shall take that _very _well."

Barbara smiled as Richard groaned, content that she had managed to irk him. "I suspected as much. What would you do without my flippant tongue?"

"Die," Richard replied dramatically, throwing his arm over his eyes. "Absolutely and completely die."

XXX

On the second day of Richard's visit to the Duke's home, Barbara took him out to one of the outer-lying apple orchards on the property and brought their dinner in the form of cold cuts. Richard spread out a blanket for them as Barbara dismounted, taking care not to step of the hem of her new and expensive blue dress.

"You could have helped me down" she complained. "Father would kill me if I ripped my brand new gown. Some gentleman you are."

Grinning, Richard turned to her and held out a hand. "M'lady," he said as he drew her towards the blanket. "Allow me to take care of the horses while you recline."

Barbara rolled her eyes and sat down and watched Richard as he properly hobbled the horses, something she wasn't entirely sure she would have been able to do anyway. She wasn't sure where Richard, bred a prince, had learned, but she didn't care to dwell on it.

Once finished with the horses, Richard came and sat down next to the lady, sitting near to her and enjoying her closeness. "I must confess, I had missed this," he admitted, pulling an apple from their basket and taking a large bite of it.

Barbara looked at him and laughed as she noted the juice from the apple dripping down his chin. "I think you've something on your chin, my darling. Here," She pulled a line napkin from the basket and wiped tenderly at his chin, almost as if she were his mother.

Barbara looked up at Richard just as he lowered his head, and their eyes met. She looked at him as he looked at her, and she felt herself moving in closer towards him. His hand was suddenly at her chin, holding it tenderly, and she cocked her head to the side, unsure about the close contact. They had always been good friends, but they had never been intimate. She knew the bounds of propriety, and she knew that if King Bruce (or anyone, really) knew that she was out with Richard, unchaperoned, he would probably be in a great deal of trouble and she would probably be looked at as if she were a Jezebel. But so it had been since they had been children. Her father did not seem to mind that they went on the excursions alone, though all parties involved were careful not to mention it to the king.

Inhaling quickly, Barbara removed her hand from Richard's face and moved away from him. "There," she announced. "You no longer have a puddle of juice on your face. I am satisfied."

It took a moment for Richard to regain his composure, but when he did, he grinned. "Very good. I'd hate to disappoint my lady."

"Then I fear you are too late, Your Highness," she teased. "I am afraid you disappoint me rather regularly."

"Well, than I am sorry for it," he replied, puffing up with false indignation. "I shall remedy this as soon as may be."

"Very good, sir, very good."

They finished their mean in peace, birds chirping mildly around them, but Barbara couldn't help but think that Richard had been rather close to kissing her, and all that such a thing entailed.


	3. Part the Third

Can you guess who Bruce wants his little boy to marry? Find out this chapter!

Jesters and Kings

Part the Third

The time soon came for Richard to leave, and Barbara was sorely grieved, though she hid it well. They both knew that, with the Duke forbidding Barbara to go to court, they were unlikely to see each other for a very long time. Barbara was holding back tears, something very uncharacteristic of her. She flew into Richard's arms, not caring about propriety, and wrapped her arms around him in a tight embrace.

"I'll miss you so much," she told him, her voice near shaking.

Richard stroked at her red hair, near tears himself and trying to hold them back it was an effort just to speak. "I know, my love. I shall miss you dearly, too. I will write you diligently, though, and we will be regular correspondents."

Barbara snorted, pulling away from Richard with a fragile smile on her face. "Of course," she said, the sarcasm falling from her voice like rain from a cloud. "You always say so. And yet it is always I who ends up the primary correspondent and you are not nearly as diligent as you always claim you will be."

Richard smile guiltily and shrugged. "I always intend to, but Father keeps me so busy with matters of state that I never have the time."

"Yes, of course," Barbara agreed. She pointed an accusing finger at him and rammed it into his chest as she spoke, punctuating her words. "But you will make time to write to me, Richard Grayson, or so help me, I will tell Donna that you used to think that you were in love with her."

Richard paled and caught Barbara's hand as she moved to return it to her side. "Don't," he pleaded. "I'll write you a letter a day if you swear you will not tell her."

Barbara laughed and yanked her hand back. "Worry not, darling, I shan't tell her. Just write to me. I'm going to feel your absence enough as it is."

Richard smile once more and grabbed Barbara's hand once more, bringing it to his mouth to kiss it, letting his lips linger there for a moment more than was strictly necessary. "As I will feel yours, my lady. As I will feel yours,"

He let her hand go, then, and turned to his horse, mounting quickly and gracefully, with the ease of someone who was used to greater feats of agility. He blew her a kiss and spurred his horse, taking off quickly. She stood and waved until he was so far down the road that she could not see him and then turned back to the manor. She looked over her shoulder only once before walking in and going back to her sewing.

XXX

When King Bruce received his eldest son back at court, Richard was not unsurprised to find many new ladies. They came in almost all shapes and sizes, but he was pleased to see a few familiar faces. Princess Diana was there with Princess Donna, and Lady Raven was in the corner speaking an old friend, Sir Roy. Richard shook his head at this; Sir Roy was famously known as someone who liked to "board other men's boats", as the saying went, and though Richard was not as familiar with Lady Raven as he was with Princess Donna, he was fairly sure that she was too shy to stop any of Roy's advances. Sighing, he made a mental note to speak with his friend about his womanizing ways. Still, he had more pressing matters of diplomacy to deal with. He started with the _Themysciran princesses, bowing low to Diana and Donna in respect._

_"__Your Highnesses," he greeted them with an easy smile. "It has been an age since we last met, if I do say so,"_

_Diana smiled and Donna giggled. "Your Highness." Donna said. "It certainly has been rather long. Tell me, how are things here?"_

_"__They are well," Richard answered. "As a matter of fact, I am fresh from a visit with the Duke of Acryl and his daughter."_

_"__Ah, how is Lady Barbara? I am exceedingly fond of her, though I fear I have not heard from her in even a longer period than I haven't corresponded with you, Your Highness."_

_"__She is quite well," he assured the princess. "When I spoke to her of you on my visit she begged that I give you her affections and her promises that she would write to you as soon as she was at leisure to do so." _

_"__Then I shall expect a letter from her soon, I expect," the Princess said. "No, if you will excuse me, Your Highness, my sister and I must be __off. There are many people that we have yet to greet."_

_Donna curtsied to the young prince, and together with her sister, walked away. Richard shook his head, smiling as he watched the pair walk away. He knew exactly why both of them were at court; Bruce wanted Princess Diana, and had in mind that Richard should want Princess Donna. __He knew that his father was eager for him to marry, but Richard had other ideas. He knew was long passed the age princes were expected to marry, much less heirs apparent, but this did not faze him. _

_He saw her then, standing in the corner, chatting with his friend Wallace of __Starkend. He had mistaken her for Barbara at first, because of her long and flowing red hair, but upon second glance he had no idea how he had mistaken the two. Her hair was much longer, her skin a much darker tone than Barbara's light peach. When she laughed at something Wallace said, she threw her head back, her long curls dangling lower, past her waist, her clear, emerald eyes shining, even from so far away. _

_He felt himself drawn to her, taking a few steps __towards her before he realized what he was doing. She was gorgeous, and though Richard was not the type of man to stare at a woman, he could feel himself staring at this woman nonetheless. He could think of only one other woman who had ever had such an effect on him, and that woman was Lady Barbara, though in a radically different way. _

_Shaking his head briefly, Richard walked towards Wallace and, clapping him familiarly on the shoulder, asked who the beautiful lady he was conversing with was._

_Wallace opened his mouth to speak, but the lady beat him to his introduction. "I am Princess Koriand'r of Tamaran, my lord," she said, sweeping into a low and elegant curtsey. __She came back up, smiling widely and tossed her hair over her shoulder. "And I am most pleased to meet you."_

_XXX_

_Barbara looked up from her sewing, a strange feeling washing over her. She felt as if her world had suddenly shifted. Her brow furrowed for a moment, but she bid the moment pass, and went back to her sewing. _


End file.
